Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati
Acharya, Satyananda Yoga Centre, London
I have had to come to terms with the death of one of my first and most influential yoga teachers, Swami Atmananda, who came into my life in the late 1960s. Her memory lingers on at the London Centre, where she often came and conducted programmes in the early years. Her voice and phrases pop up in nearly every yoga nidra I teach, and I have vivid memories of the huge bowls of kicheri she doled out around the kitchen at shankhaprakshalana time.
Swami Atmananda guided me towards my first meeting with Swami Satyananda, and ten years later, when the time came for me to be initiated into sannyasa, she was again there to help. Her’s were the first feet Swami Satyananda told me to bend and touch after that momentous event.
In more recent years I have seen her at Rikhia, still serving her guru with love and enthusiasm, still teaching and inspiring those less experienced than herself. She was also a true inspiration to many of Swami Satyananda’s female disciples who saw in her great courage and commitment at a time when there were few female sannyasins.
I shall always be grateful for her presence in my life.
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